Identifying Constraints in Available Production Capacity

Accurate production scheduling is an essential element to obtain high performing manufacturing facilities. By optimally allocating the available resources in a factory, improved equipment utilization, and hence production efficiency, can be reached. It is important that the planning considers factors that potentially restrict the available capacity, to access an uninterrupted process flow in the manufacturing workshop. This paper summarizes the master thesis project performed at Sandvik during spring 2020, with the purpose to identify all limiting factors in terms of available equipment, in a processing facility for cast iron details. The analysis showed that three parameters are potential constraints for the available production capacity. However, if the scheduling is done according to these factors, it will be possible to avoid overlaps while maintaining enough capacity to produce forecasted orders. This result thus establishes that there is no need to perform further investment analysis to increase the capacity of any constraint.